Latest News

NOVUS APPRENTICES MAKE HOMELESS SHELTER FEEL LIKE HOME

16 AUGUST, 2017

A group of enthusiastic new apprentices have helped us revitalise a homeless shelter in Stoke-on-Trent as part of our annual Apprentice Week.
The Macari Centre, which is just five minutes away from our head office, was founded by football legend Lou Macari last year as a place of safety for those forced to sleep on the streets. As well as food and a bed for the night, the centre’s dedicated team works closely with local agencies to provide support and help the centre users to change their lives for the better.
The Macari Centre provided the perfect place to host this year’s Apprentice Challenge, which forms a key part of our annual apprenticeship recruitment process. During the day-long challenge, a team of 26 apprentice hopefuls were joined by Novus volunteers to refresh the centre’s tired interior. The apprentices repainted two of the centre’s dorm rooms, a corridor and communal room as well as tidying up the exterior including the walkway which leads up to the centre. They also carried out minor repairs and constructed a new purpose-built smoking shelter.
The 26 young apprentices were selected out of more than 1,500 applicants from our successful UK-wide recruitment campaign earlier this year. With 53 applications for every single position available, competition for a place was fierce. The best candidates were invited to our head office to take part in the Apprentice Week of training and special activities which culminated with the Apprentice Challenge at the Macari Centre.
Our senior management team and directors kept a close eye on the latest cohort of apprentices throughout the day and the successful candidates will begin working with us at locations across the country as early as September.
Neil Washington, director from Novus Property Solutions commented: “The Apprentice Challenge is an invaluable part of our apprentice recruitment process. It not only gives the apprentices a taste for our day-to-day work and a chance to learn some vital practical skills, we can also see how well they work together as a team and how they embrace our values.
“By getting involved in a project which is designed to help give something back to the local community, we hope our apprentices will be able to appreciate how important work like this is to us.
“As a company, we are committed to nurturing talent and providing staff with opportunities to grow and develop in order to reach their full potential. This has been an exceptional year for applications and I wish all our new apprentices every success for their future careers with Novus.”
For more information about building your career with Novus please visit our recruitment site.

NOVUS NAMED ON GOVERNMENT HOUSING FRAMEWORK

26 JULY, 2017

We’re proud to announce that our Build Team has secured a place on the Homes and Communities Agency Delivery Partner Panel 3 Framework.
We have been selected in two lots, Midlands and North West, and it is testament to the quality of our work that we were ranked above several leading housing developers.
The Delivery Partner Panel is used by the Homes and Communities Agency and by a wide range of other public sector bodies to speed up the procurement of homes. The Panel has been in operation for 6 years and has enabled procurement of 45,000 homes on 250 sites.
The new four-year framework is worth £2.6 billion in the Midlands and £1.1 billion in the North West and will be used to procure housing-led development, including all activities necessary to construct housing and associated infrastructure, marketing and sales activity.
For more information contact us on 01782 237249

OUR APPRENTICE SCOOPS LEADING INDUSTRY AWARD

28 MARCH, 2017

One of our apprentices has been named Apprentice of the Year by judges at the prestigious Construction News Specialists Awards.
Daniel Holdcroft, who has been an apprentice painter and decorator with us and a student at Stoke-on-Trent College since 2013, impressed the judges with his professionalism and enthusiasm as well as his “unmistakable passion” for both his job and for us as a company.
As part of the process Daniel, along with six other apprentices from across the construction industry, attended an in-depth face-to-face interview with a panel of judges in London.
The judges remarked: “Daniel is a true ambassador for the industry and is hungry for progress. He has demonstrated his continuous improvement and value to the industry, plus a real drive for success”
We were also praised for our robust apprenticeship programme and the level of support provided to our apprentices. Last year we named Daniel our Apprentice of the Year, making him our ambassador for apprentices for the whole year, something which saw him attend skills talks and events to encourage the next generation of apprentices to take their first steps in the industry.
Stuart Seddon, our chairman commented: “Daniel is a credit to us and we’re all incredibly proud of everything he’s achieved in such a short time. He’s embraced all our core values and as well as being an exceptionally hard worker, he’s also taken advantage of all the opportunities we’ve provided, making the most of every single one.
“I’m incredibly proud of our apprentice programme at Novus. It’s always been important to us as a company and apprentices continue to play a vital role in our business. We’re in the middle of this year’s major apprenticeship recruitment drive and I’m sure Daniel’s incredible success story will inspire many more new apprentices to follow in his footsteps this year.”

INTRODUCING OUR INCREDIBLE NOVUS VALUES AWARD WINNERS

15 MARCH, 2017

We’d like to introduce you to this year’s six Novus Values award winners, who were each nominated for the way they encompass our values in their day-to-day work.
The Novus Way and our six core values are what shapes us as a company by underlining how we work, as well as how we interact with each other, our clients and suppliers. It’s vital that they change as we evolve to ensure they remain in keeping with and up-to-date with our activity as a company.
Our chairman, Stuart Seddon explains: “These values support our vision, and help shape our culture to become the guiding principles that dictate our behaviours and actions. The essence of our identity and beliefs, our values are intended to help staff in their decision-making processes.”
Having recently reviewed and updated our values which included renaming the ‘What Next?’ value to ‘Embrace change’ – the Novus Values for 2017 are:
Be Authentic
Work Together
Get It Right
Embrace Change
Be Responsible
Nurture
During our annual Excellence Awards ceremony earlier this year, we were delighted to announce this year’s Novus Values awards winners, all six of who were judged to best represent what each value means. Here’s what the judges had to say about them:
Dominic Newman, site manager – Be Authentic
Dominic has proved that by staying true to yourself and being focussed on self-development, you can achieve positive results. During his seven years with Novus he has risen through the ranks to become one of our site managers and now works on key contracts such as the UPP Partnership Programme and the MOD Kitchen refurbishment project.
Dominic was recently heading up a team carrying out external works to a property and, when he realised one of the residents was severely disabled and living in poor conditions, he immediately took action to organise improvements to the resident’s home. This included redecoration to the kitchen, lounge and bathroom and a new ceiling. Dominic's hands-on approach really benefited the resident, who was overwhelmed by his act of kindness.
Michelle Long, Operational Support Manager - Work Together
Michelle is a great example of someone who lives the Novus Values. Nothing is ever too much trouble and she has an outstanding respect for all of our staff and customers in Scotland. Helping to keep the team on site and on the help desk focused in delivering exceptional service to customers, Michelle clearly demonstrates the 'Work Together' value, supporting her team in achieving the highest standards.
A great example of Michelle’s teamwork came when she took it upon herself to reduce the burden of a customer who was moving into a new home with her autistic son and was struggling to set up the utilities. As Michelle knew a gas engineer was close by, she went beyond her role and arranged for the engineer to help set everything up straight away. For many of our clients’ residents, moving house can be a stressful time, however little touches like this can make a significant impact.
Wayne Appleby, Contract Manager - Get It Right
Wayne is clearly passionate about his work and is never fazed by a challenge. He takes full ownership of what he is required to do. His delivery of the Hanover Kitchen and Bathroom framework for the Southampton office in particular has produced very positive client feedback about his positive approach to undertaking the works, ability to manage their and the residents' expectations and delivering on time and to budget.
An example of Wayne's commitment to getting it right is the way he recently came to the assistance of an elderly customer whose washing machine was leaking badly. Having failed to get a response from the emergency repairs line, she called Wayne during his commute home from work and was clearly distressed. Though not his responsibility, Wayne took it upon himself to resolve the situation and didn't get home until 10pm that night. It's selfless actions like these that surpass any expectations of our clients.
Neal Owen, Trade Operative - Embrace Change
Neal originally joined us from an agency but was quickly taken on as a permanent member of staff after demonstrating his commitment and proactively looking for ways to improve. He definitely embraces the idea that change is necessary. Neal is always on site first and takes great responsibility for managing sites to the highest standard at different locations.
Off his own back, Neal starts his day early every Friday in order to pick up deliveries from drivers traveling overnight. He doesn’t need to do this, but does so to help our supply chain drivers to beat the Friday traffic and get back to their families.
Paul Singleton, Site Foreman – Be Responsible
Paul is very professional, someone that can be trusted and relied on, and continually goes the extra mile for our clients. He has a responsible attitude and strives to make a positive contribution to the communities in which he works. He was keen to get involved in one of our recent changing Lives projects with Places for People, where he helped to improve facilities for vulnerable families.
On an icy winter's morning, Paul, who was busy working on external staircase to a blocks of flats, noticed an elderly lady attempting to make her way to the shops. Seeing that she was having difficulty, Paul insisted on helping by taking her shopping list and quickly getting everything she wanted. In return, the lady provided the team with countless brews to show her appreciation.
Rob Armstrong, Project Manager - Nurture
Rob was promoted to Project Manager in 2016 and has excelled in his role, taking on the responsibility of delivering refurbishments to Premier Inn Hotels on a fast track programme. He consistently completes the work on time and has achieved the best overall handover KPIs in the year. Rob has also made huge strides in developing and nurturing our client relationship with Whitbread.
One example of Rob's commitment to his role was one Friday night when there was a power cut to an entire Premier Inn hotel building. Rob and his team liaised with hotel management to guide guests, some of who were elderly, safely out of the hotel in the dark and also played a key part in getting the hotel back up and running again. This is just one way that Rob is helping to sustain our long-term relationships with our clients.